Expat and travel blog featuring stories on living overseas destinations, as well as some stuff on the expat blogosphere too.

09/16/2013

Health matters: what cover do you need when you go abroad?

If you're heading abroad on holiday getting health cover is extremely easy and very inexpensive. And as long as you're registered with a GP, theres really nothing to it. And having health cover also means that if there was a requirement for medical repatriation it is generally covered in most policies that I've seen. There are some horror stories about people being flown back to the UK and having to pay for it - and the expense easily runs into thousands, or tens thereof. There is the EHIC of course, but it doesn't replace insurance, as the Foreign & Commonwealth Office site states.

There seems to be some confusion about which policies are needed for which kind of stay. And there was even a survey done by one of the global HR companies a while back that indicated that many bosses of staff away on international assignments were unsure of the type of policy needed, or that travel cover was sufficient.

Basically how it works is that if you're off abroad to live, then you need an international health insurance policy. Not a travel one. Another important point to note is that some countries demand that those entering be fully insured - and there have even been reports of people being turned away at the airport for not having valid medical cover. One of the places mentioned where this has happened is Abu Dhabi - the emirate legally requires people to have valid health insurance. As for the rest of the UAE I'm not entirely sure. But hey, who'd go abroad uninsured?